Several detection techniques of layout areas in video images are known. A first technique is described in the document “Automatic logo removal using statistical based logo detection and frequency selective inpainting” by K. Meisinger, T. Troeger, M. Zeller and A. Kaup, Proc. European Signal Processing Conference, September 2005. This technique involves detecting the image areas that do not change in the image sequence, the starting hypothesis being that the content of images generally changes over time with the exception of image areas that contain layouts. The algorithm used to detect layouts is based on an image to image difference and the pixels for which the difference from one image to another is zero or close to zero are considered to form part of the layout. A first problem with this technique is that it is not adapted for scenes which contain little or no motion. A second problem is that it requires the analysis of several consecutive images for implementation.
A second known technique is described in the document “Real-time opaque and semi-transparent TV logos detection” by A. Reis dos Santos and H. Yong Kim, Proc. 5th International Information and Telecommunication Technologies Symposium, 2006. In this document, layout detection is based on the detection of contours which requires pre-processing on several consecutive images.
Finally a third known technique consists in comparing visual content in the image to be processed with a predefined layout base. The visual content of image areas is compared with the visual content of each of the layouts contained in the base. A layout is detected when the visual content is identical to the visual content of the area tested. This technique only detects layouts contained in the base and thus involves prior knowledge of logos to be detected.